The invention is based on a packaging machine as generally defined hereinafter. For adapting the machine to the shape and size of the various products to be packed and to the packages used for this purpose, such as boxes, pouches, wrappers, cans, bottles, dishes and the like--known in the field as format changing--the individual processing and handling devices, such as delivery, conveyor, folding, shaping and closing devices, are designed to be adjustable. To this end, as shown for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,509,681, the adjustable parts have slits through which adjustable clamping screws are passed, or such parts are secured on sliding guides, which can be displaced in a finely adjustable manner using set screws. In each case, the changeover of the known machines to a different format is quite time-consuming. In complicated machines, such as cartoning machines, up to a hundred individual parts and tools, or even more, must be readjusted each time. Furthermore, a format change requires extensive skill and experience on the part of the worker, because the individual structural parts and tools must be adjusted using patterns for the products and packages. Often, an adjustment also depends on the position of some previously adjusted part, so that if one part or tool is incorrectly adjusted, this part and others dependent on it must later be adjusted again. Finally, after the changeover of the machine has been completed, further readjustments must still be made repeatedly because of tolerances and fluctuations in the products and packages, in order to assure problem-free operation. Such later readjustments often take several times as long to accomplish as did the preceding changeover.
Cartoning machines are also known in which individual tools and structural parts are equipped with a motor-driven adjusting device. The adjusting devices provided with a position transducer can be triggered by a central control device, in which format-dependent data are stored. Such adjusting devices are advantageous with structural parts that are difficult to see or gain access to. The engineering expense of so equipping all the tools and parts that are adjustable in accordance with format is extremely high. Also, many locations in the machine have no space for drive motors.